Article Submission GuidelinesQuestions about how to submit an article for publication in audioXpress magazine?
Ideally target 2000 words with five figures/photos on average. We accept contributed pieces with a minimum of 1200 words and a maximum of 3000. The article should be bylined and have a good technical level for an engineering audience with experience in both product and systems design. Unlike a paper we have no strict rules in terms of style. Make it personal, use "we". Avoid bullet-points. We have no restrictions on brand and product references - we encourage you to share your journey and that of your company.
These guidelines are for articles in the monthly magazine. If you have questions about writing for the magazine, want to contribute for The Audio Voice newsletter, or want to submit a story for the audioXpress website instead, you can contact the editor.
Before you do, check these more detailed guidelines.
File Type:
• Submit your article as a Word or TXT/rtf document if possible.
Don’t bother too much with style (bolds, italics) - formatting is applied on layout.
If your work includes equations, math symbols and requires a lot of special characters, it’s always a good idea to print to PDF and send that as a reference.
Article Lengths:
Ideally target 2000 words (± 400 words) with four or five figures/photos.
We accept contributed pieces with a minimum of 1200 words and a maximum of 3000.
If your article is in the 3500 – 6000 word range, it should be split into a 2-part series.
Style:
• Feel free to use a conversational tone. You may write in the first person, include humor, and let your personality come through. Avoid "you". Use "we" for a sense of community. Our technical editors will edit your article for grammar and to match our style.
Parts of an Article:
• Preview/Lead text: 2 or 3 sentences explaining what your article is about.
• Title: sometimes a catchy title and a descriptive subtitle create the best balance
• Section headers: insert section headers in the natural breaks of the text; Examples: "Hardware Overview" or "Tests and Results" (NO headers at the beginning of article. Example: "Introduction")
• Captions: descriptive captions must accompany each photo or figure (2 to 3 complete sentences) - Think of it as another way to read your article. People often read title, lead text and captions before deciding if they should read the complete text.
• Insert references (e.g., Figure 4) in the body of your article for each piece of art
• Sources/BOM: Include a list of parts and their manufacturers
• References: Include list of books, articles, websites, etc. that you referenced (i.e., footnotes)
• Resources: Include a list of books, articles, and websites that you used used for background information or that readers would find useful
• Submit short Biography and one portrait/headshot (large size)
Style Details:
• Text must be in paragraph format. Do NOT use bulleted or numbered lists.
• Spell out all units (e.g., megabytes, milliohm, feet, kilowatt-hour)
• Indicate any text that should appear in code font.
• Use one-column format.
Images:
Figures, schematics, graphs, tables, code listings, diagrams (block diagrams, flowcharts), screenshots, and photos should be submitted as a separate file.
• Figure: any schematic, flow chart, block diagram, or other drawings
• Photo: photo or screenshot (approx. 300 dpi). Please don't crop photos (allow our designers to frame your art)
• Digital file formats:
- Figure: any vector format or PDF for figures and elements containing text.
- Photos: JPG, TIF, and PNG preferred.
• Table: any information in table format (normally, these will be redone)
Images should be sent/shared zipped or in a. folder (Do NOT send photos embedded in a text file)
Photos must be high resolution (~ 300 dpi) at approximately 4 to 8 inches (22cm).
Original photos at 72 dpi should be as large as possible - send originals, don’t crop.
Do not manipulate the size or resolution metadata.
If files are too large for email, use Wetransfer.com or any similar free browser-based service. If you share your files (OneDrive, Dropbox, Box, etc), remember to give permissions to download (we do not collaborate online).
Special instructions for screen shots: For the best image quality, maximize your screen resolution and make the window as large as possible (full screen) on your screen before capturing the image.
Schematics and other diagrams:
Specify ALL part names. Label all pins, signals, etc. Include part designations (e.g., U1, C5). Please make sure everything is legible. Poor schematics are redrawn. Include any special instructions/notes to the editor in brackets. Don’t use abbreviations (e.g., mega = incorrect; ATmega128L = correct). Don’t use underscores in signal names.
Graphs:
Include labels for the axes. Simple graphs (e.g., bar) will be redrawn. To preserve the accuracy of complex graphs, we may use digital files instead. When submitting complex graphs, please follow the guidelines for formatting photos.
References, Resources, & Sources
The article must be your own original work. When you’re writing your article, you may want to conduct research using a variety of reference materials. Any ideas borrowed from other works (e.g., articles, books, web sites, datasheets, app notes, white papers, manuals) must be cited. If you don’t cite the reference, then it appears that you are taking credit for someone else’s text or idea, which is plagiarism.
References
Whether you restate someone else’s concepts in your own words or quote someone directly, you must cite the original reference. Include the author’s name, title, publisher, number (if any), and copyright date. References should be listed consecutively as they appear in the text (e.g., [1], [2]).
Example:
According to Douglas C. Schmidt [1]
Reference
[1] D. Schmidt, “Model-Driven Engineering,” Computer Magazine, Feb. 2006.
After your article is edited, it will be returned for proofreading a few weeks prior to publication. You will have approximately 4 days to review the article and send back your comments.
The proofreading stage is designed to catch minor errors only. We cannot accept major revisions or excessive rewrites during this stage.
AUTHOR PAYMENT & RIGHTS
For an original, bylined print article, the Publisher typically pays a fixed $75 honorarium for each published page.
Article payments are processed around the end of the month in which the article is published. With the payment, an author will receive two complimentary copies of the issue in which your article appears.
The Publisher’s rights
The Publisher owns the published article, which means no one else can publish, post, reprint, or disseminate in any other way the published article (either in part or in full) without written permission from the Publisher. The Publisher also owns the first-time publishing rights to the original manuscript, which means the article cannot appear in any other publication, professional website, etc., prior to appearing in one of the Publisher’s Publications.
Author’s rights
You retain the rights to your original materials as submitted. You keep your intellectual property (IP). Upon acceptance of your completed article, you will be sent the standard author contract that explains this in greater detail.
Product's Review Process
We don’t normally keep the equipment we get for review.
All our reviews are organized with the agreement that the equipment will be sent to the address we indicate, and be returned at the manufacturers (or agency’s) expense.
If you do not wish to have the equipment returned, let us know.
We publish articles first in the printed magazine and some select article are also published online (audioXpress.com), at least a month after the magazine was distributed in print.
The audioXpress website contains many examples of published articles.
You can find a variety of examples here:
Magazine Articles
Theory Articles
And Project Articles
audioXpress is published monthly by KCK Media Corp.
KCK Media Publishes:
audioXpress magazine | audioXpress.com
Circuit Cellar magazine | circuitcellar.com
linuxgizmos.com
Loudspeaker Industry Sourcebook | loudspeakerindustrysourcebook.com
Voice Coil Magazine - more information here
